Nottingham – Trowell Well Being Show

The Nottingham Trowell Show is 25 days away: Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd of October. I feel it is worth writing about this event and why this little venue has become a firm favourite, with visitors and Community Members.

The Festival Hall at Market Rasen was the venue for the first event: this was five years ago. At that time; the show intended to allow people to stand for the first time without having to pay a high table fee. This is a principal which has not changed. The event was successful from this view-point. More than a few people entered the M.B.S scene, from ‘Rasen’. We moved to Lincoln Epic Centre, and it was not possible to put both venues on the calendar, and with real regret, we left The Festival Hall.

Nottingham Trowell opened its doors to our Well Being Events four years ago. The same idea, to give new people the chance to work at an event is replicated at this show. It is interesting that many of the Community stay with this event and it has become hugely popular with Community Members, so much so, it is almost fully booked for 2018 (as are most of next years events).

I have been asked why we call the show ‘Nottingham – Trowell’ and not Trowell. The answer is two-fold. In the early days we saw the venue as a possible stepping stone to a larger Nottingham event, and as Nottingham is the covered area, it seemed sensible to isolate the name, and therefore LizianEvents would be seen as the Nottingham Well Being Show organisers.

Let us go back in time: My friend, Miriam Gifford organised fruitful and significant M.B.S Shows in Nottingham. In fact, I would comment, apart from one other show organised eight years ago, Miriam still holds the crown for cracking the tough Nottingham nut. Times have changed and the number of organisers has increased. And big events in this city seem to fall flat on their face. Although we would never say never, for the foreseeable future Nottingham – Trowell is fine for us.

This article is about ’N-T’ – The show is the smallest and slightly demanding, as I put my catering hat on, and provide the food. The food and the in particular sausages have earned an excellent reputation. Plenty of nice comments mentioning the menu as well as the warm and welcoming atmosphere: is compensation for the extra effort involved in putting this event together. As a regular reader will know, we do not consider organising the events hard work. When anything is enjoyed, it is easy.

What will a visitor expect to find when they decide to visit ’N-T’? The bus service is excellent on both Saturday and Sunday: For example, Yellow number 2 has a dropping off point near to the Festival Inn. Travelling by car from the M1 junction 26 will take ten minutes, from Nottingham city centre twenty at most. Parking is good, and surrounding roads can be used as an over-spill.

Entry costs nothing if the visitor has ordered a ticket online. All that is needed is a request for an e-ticket from the web page. Alternatively, one pound entry fee is charged at the door. The charge is there to distract people with little interest Well Being gatecrashing the show. There is no suggestion of potential problems, this restriction has been with us since the second Market Rasen Show, there is no intention to change the policy.

The Parish Hall itself is a typical example of a late 1950’s community building. And while it cannot hide its age, the building is sound. The Recent refurbishment of the hall will bring all its ‘facilities’ right up to date, we will see a significant difference at the October event. The modern central heating system is efficient, there is never a problem with warmth. The dining area is next to the kitchen and is separate to the main hall, this works well for the ambience of the show itself.

If there is a drawback, it is the talk room. It is (to say the least) small, thirty seats are about the maximum available, we have successfully used the stage area for workshops. There is nothing we can do to change this aspect of the event, it is something we accept a part of the package. Our talk schedule will be for six talks each day. We recognise the great demand for talks, and we intend to increase the talk programs at all our Show’s. During 2018 workshop promotion and talk information will be enhanced with very specialist promotions.

Everyone knows of our ‘no fixed place’ policy. At this venue, this policy cannot be enforced, Community Members with ‘deep’ stalls, have to be near the stage, there is no other way to set out the tables. At the last show, Mel Jones was happy to experiment with placing her tables near the door and not surprisingly, made her position work very well indeed. Incidentally, she set up in the reception area at Newark and enjoyed the experience. Mel is a perfect example of how Community Members can use the flexibility of change to their advantage.

A visitor interested in Well Being or The Spiritual and Healing aspects of our shows would find five or six hours enough to enjoy the occasion. This is a conservative figure, as many people will stay for the whole day, and some take both days. As always, we limit the number of Community Members at each event, and ’N-T’ has a maximum of thirty-one exhibitors. A well-proportioned mix of readers, retail and therapies work well for every visitor. If you consider we put a ceiling of sixty-five Community Members at Lincoln and Newark, this show offers a great visitor experience. When reviewing the ‘lists’ it may seem we have overbooked readers, this is not the case as some are only attending for one day.

The show attendance is growing, I have a target of 200 visitors per day. And with the steady increase over the last eighteen months, I feel we will achieve this in 2018. We always publish accurate attendance figures, and it will be interesting to see how close we get to this coming show. We have ordered another batch of flyers for the event, and as I need to lose some weight, it is time to do some extra legwork.

This short review of the Nottingham – Trowell Well Being Show should give visitors an idea of how this event works. The article should go some way to explain the reasons for our continuing faith in running an event at Trowell.

Thanks, Campbell, It’s amazing how it holds a great affection with all who attend. I really feel the Show will grow, because, it has become a reflection of the Ethos of our Community. See You Later – Ian